


Section X

by yowhyy



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Ficlet Collection, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24571558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yowhyy/pseuds/yowhyy
Summary: Everybody in Section D gets in trouble occasionally, often because of the infamous 'Section X', the department set up to spy on its own spies.A look at what our favourite characters have done to get themselves flagged by the Section.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Adam Carter

**Author's Note:**

> One of my favorite parts of 'The Personnel Files', a Spooks companion book, was each character's 'Section X' report, which are a collection of incidents which were flagged by the service as being potentially problematic. This fic takes a closer look at each of the incidents in the log, although I must point out that all the italicized sections and the events themselves were not created by me, they are word for word from the book which is the property of Kudos. I simply expanded on them.
> 
> Spoilers for seasons 1 - 5.

_Date: 24.02.2004_

_Subject: Excessive time spent at work downloading music. Music included Athlete and Stone Roses._

_Outcome: Referred to Harry Pearce_

Trying to download anything at home was a _nightmare –_ Adam would hardly call himself a tech expert but surely something was wrong with their internet. On the grid, however, it worked a charm, and the music which at home would have taken hours to download and even then, would probably pop up with a ‘fail’ message, at work took a matter of minutes. There was nothing wrong with it, surely. Besides, he’d nearly died for the service damn near enough times for them to mind if he took a few well-earned minutes out of his day to download some tunes for the drive home.

Apparently not. Harry held him back after one of the daily meetings with a raised eyebrow.

‘Adam, not that I particularly mind, but over at Section X they’ve noticed you using our computers for personal reasons, and they don’t like it.’

‘Is this about the bloody music? It was _three albums,_ Harry. I thought this was going to be for something more important than that.’

Harry tilted his head. ‘Is there something more pressing I should be aware of?’

Adam sighed, although there was a twinkle in Harry’s eye. His boss was not a fan of Section X - he knew Harry had been assigned there for a few months a long time ago and had found it dull as ditch water with far too high an opinion of itself for a section which was, essentially, in place to spy on its own spies.

‘Just do it at home in future, Adam. And _please,_ for Fiona’s sake if not your own, sort out your taste in music. The Stone Roses? Really?’ He pulled a face of mock disgust.

Adam rolled his eyes. Time to ask Malcolm about the internet.

_Note from Harry Pearce: I have issued a mild reprimand – as much for his taste in music as the wasted office time._

_* * *_

_Date: 7.08.2004_

_Subject: Cricket. Adam has been spending a large amount of time reading the Guardian’s online over-by-over Test Match updates._

_Outcome: See note from Harry Pearce below._

Harry laughed as he saw the message come through from Section X. God forbid an officer have any interest in anything outside of the service. Glancing through his office window, he could see Adam and Danny both peering at Adam’s computer, likely open at the same window Harry’s was currently open on. He quickly replied, and turned his attention back to his screen – it was going to be a close call, but he reckoned Leicestershire might just snatch a victory from Surrey in the Twenty20 cricket cup finals.

_Note from Harry Pearce: So what? So have I._

_* * *_

_Date: 4.05.2005_

_Subject: Large volumes of cash being moved around between different bank accounts._

_Outcome: Leave. AC was transferring money to take the family on holiday._

It had been a long few months – Zoe’s trial, the interrogation of Morgan…

The Carters were in need a of a break, and it had fallen to Adam to try and sort one out. Fiona had been hinting at France for weeks, taking Adam out for dinner at a new Parisian style restaurant, teaching Wes some phrases in French, and on the nights where she chose the film to watch she kept opting for old, black and white French romance films which Adam found insufferably boring. Wes, on the other hand, like every 7-year-old, wanted to go to Disneyworld. Adam found the thought of it horrendous – overpriced meals, underpaid teenagers in huge sweaty mouse outfits and massive crowds in which a little boy could easily get lost. No, thank you.

Adam personally wanted a quieter holiday – somewhere nice like Italy or Spain, where the three of them could be completely private and safe, in a villa away from the outside world. Safety on the holiday was paramount – Adam was not letting his family go anywhere they could get lost, or where people could hurt them. Nowhere with crowds, dodgy public transport or lax security measures.

He had eventually settled on a little, quiet place at the edge of Lake Geneva, where you could have your own little house, and the town and shops were in walking distance. There was a park for Wes, and if he really insisted, a small water park an hours drive away, and for Fiona the town offered plenty of restaurants and museums. The place gave Adam peace of mind – the only people who knew they would be there were a friendly Swiss couple who owned the property, who Adam had forced Malcolm to put through every security vetting procedure he could (they came up completely clean), and the landscape promised the fresh air and natural beauty which he was rather in need of.

Now, to sort out the money…

_* * *_

_Date: 7.07.2006_

_Subject: Excessive time spent on estate agent websites._

_Outcome: Referred to Harry Pearce. See note below._

Adam could barely stand being in the house. Every inch radiated _her_ – the paint she had chosen for the bedroom, the curtains she had taken weeks to pick out, the crockery set she had brought at a car boot sale. Little notes she’d written for herself that Adam couldn’t bring himself to throw away, food in the cupboards which only she would ever have eaten, a half-finished bottle of shampoo in the shower.

And so, slowly, he began to look for somewhere else, somewhere for he and Wes to start over, fresh. Somewhere which wouldn’t remind him every waking second of Fiona.

He’d gotten in trouble before for using the work computers for personal use, a reprimand which felt like a lifetime ago. He didn’t care anymore, really. His wife was dead. Who cared if he was using office time to look up flats. Flats because now it was just the two of them, him and Wes. They didn’t need a whole house anymore; it was too much room. Too much space which would just be filled with the memories of a dead wife and mother.

_Note from Harry Pearce: He is looking for a new house following his wife’s death. Please exercise some sympathy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure all of the dates in the various Spook books quite add up, but oh well.
> 
> In terms of the cricket, on the date of the recorded misdemeanor the Leicestershire Foxes were playing the Surrey Lions in the Twenty20 cup finals. They won, as Harry predicted. Funnily enough, according to the 'Personnel Files', Danny had a brief stint as a professional cricketer for Surrey, so I'm not sure how pleased he would have been by the outcome.
> 
> To come: Danny, Zoe, Ruth, Harry, Zaf and Malcolm.


	2. Danny Hunter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was an additional entry for Danny about his credit cards, but we'd already seen how that played out on screen!
> 
> Content warning for mentions of alcohol abuse.

_Date: 5.03.2004_

_Subject: Clothes. Danny was loaned an expensive suit by the clothing department to pass as a city trader. This has still not been returned._

_Outcome: See Tom Quinn’s note below_

Danny had enjoyed the undercover operation in the City rather a lot more than he admitted – expensive suits and alcohol, a respect in the trading office he didn’t quite feel he’d earned yet on the grid, and pretty girls on tap. Part of him privately thought maybe he should have gone into this business rather than the service – they certainly made a hell of a lot of money. One of the suits he’d been loaned for the operation was worth a lot more than one he’d be able to afford on his current salary.

Money had always been something Danny thought a lot about. There was the whole deal with the credit cards last year, but even before that at school he had flirted with the world of finance by running a protection racket between the older and younger pupils and pocketing for himself quite a lot of change which had been spent on sweets. It wasn’t a bad thing, to care about money. Besides, money meant you could buy nice things like this suit. He might hang on to it for a little while longer, he was sure they were in no rush to get it back. He had a wedding to go to, and it would be silly for it to go to waste in a dusty department cupboard somewhere deep in Thames House.

_Note from Tom Quinn: Leave him alone. It suits him._

_* * *_

_Date: 4.05.2004_

_Subject: Alcohol. Danny was required to live a flamboyant lifestyle as an undercover city trader at Bowman Bank. It has come to our attention that he has not entirely given this up. He is drinking far too much._

_Outcome: Danny was referred to the in-house doctor who has talked to him about the long-term dangers of alcohol abuse._

Danny rolled his eyes. _Alcohol abuse._ He wasn’t some sort of alcoholic – what was wrong with a young, healthy man like himself enjoying a whiskey in the evening?

The doctor opposite him was banging on about the liver and the kidneys and all the types of things you learned about in a year 9 health and social care class. Danny zoned her out. He was perfectly aware of the dangers of alcohol – one of his school friends, James, had had a father who had a rather unhealthy relationship with the stuff, and Danny had been round to his house enough times to see the damaging effects it could have on a family. No, Danny did not have a problem with alcohol. Perhaps, yes, some of the habits from the Bowman operation still clung to him, and yes, perhaps he did rather envy the men he’d met there who spent their evenings drinking far too much and spending money Danny would ordinarily not have been able to afford on lavish and flamboyant nights out. Perhaps he was lying to himself, slightly, pretending he was like them, the men with lifestyles he envied.

Perhaps he would cut down, a little.

If only for his liver.

_* * *_

_Date: 8.06.2004_

_Subject: Flirtatious emails. Danny’s email log contains a large number of flirtatious exchanges with Sam._

_Outcome: This was referred to Harry Pearce. His note is reproduced below._

Inter-department relationships amused Harry. He saw nothing wrong with them – in fact, he rather preferred them to the ones that officers attempted to establish with civilians which, nine times out of ten, ended with disaster. Take Tom and Ellie. Or himself and Jane.

Sam and Danny seemed to be the most recent development in the office. Harry enjoyed watching the two together, they were both young, intelligent and attractive, a good couple. There was, of course, the issue of Danny and Zoe – you could still see the look of longing in Danny’s eyes as they rested on Zoe’s for a moment too long in a meeting. No, Danny and Sam were not a relationship built to last. But for now, there was nothing wrong with it. It gave the youngsters something to do, at least, and Sam deserved a bit of good news after the fallout of the Tessa affair.

He replied to the message with a smile.

_Note from Harry Pearce: Don’t be ridiculous. As long as they both continue to do their job properly, I see no harm in a little mild diversion._


	3. Zoe Reynolds

_Date: 12.11.2002_

_Subject: Landlord. Zoe’s landlord has been making untoward advances and making life miserable for her. This is having an adverse effect on her ability to do her job. We have suggested to Danny (via Harry) that he might like to offer her his spare room._

_Outcome: Zoe moved in with Danny on 21.12.2002_

From an outsider’s perspective, they would have made an awful pair of housemates. Danny was meticulously tidy, with expensive tastes and a desire for routine. Zoe, on the other hand, was messy, had no real sleep pattern, and when it came to drink didn’t care what brand it was as long as it made her drunk.

But they worked.

They got into their own little habits, Danny soon tiring of complaining about every crumpled jumper and empty can, eventually becoming slightly less mess-averse, and in turn Zoe began to develop more of a routine as the two found it easier to leave for work at the same time and arrive together in the evening. They got drunk together on Sundays and watched stupid films, and whilst the bathroom remained a place of conflict, they did have some awareness of the others preferred time to shower.

Yes, it was a nice arrangement. Danny enjoyed Zoe’s company perhaps more than he’d like to admit, and for Zoe _anything_ was better than her old flat. It was nice to finally be able to get a full night’s sleep.

_* * *_

_Date: 14.09.2003_

_Subject: School friends. Zoe met an old school friend – Sarah Barton – on a bus on her way home. Although Ms Barton was given the slip, she has made persistent attempts to contact Zoe through the civil service intranet._

_Outcome: An email has been sent to Ms Barton to the effect that Zoe no longer works for the civil service. We have not provided any forwarding details._

It was always the job of work-experience kids or new recruits to trawl through the mass of emails and communications received by the civil service from various sources – empty threats from strange radical groups which despite not being at all dangerous have to be individually reported, old ladies trying to contact what they think is their bank, and all sorts of random messages from members of public ranging from petitions with three signatures to inquiries into matters better dealt with by their local MP. One particular member of the public was giving Charlie Holmes, new recruit at the home office, an absolute headache.

Somebody signing their emails as Sarah Barton was trying to contact somebody named Zoe Reynolds persistently, convinced that she worked at the civil service and desperately trying to get hold of her for a reason Charlie couldn’t work out. She had trawled the database for any mention of a Zoe Reynolds who was working for the service and had found absolutely nothing, even looking at the cleaning staff, the kitchen roster and checking the lists of workers at the temp agencies the service used for large events. At first, she’d just ignored and deleted the emails, like every other spam communication they received, but the more that arrived the harder it was to ignore them, and she eventually went to her boss with a meek smile and a plea for help.

Her boss had returned a week later with a hasty explanation about Zoe Reynolds being somebody’s alibi which didn’t make much sense, ordered her to reply to Sarah explaining that Zoe no longer worked there, and made Charlie sign a copy of the Official Secrets Act for reasons she didn’t quite understand.

Perhaps the civil service would end up being more exciting than she had originally thought.

_* * *_

_Date: 5.01.2004_

_Subject: Missing S24 form. It came to our attention that Zoe failed to fill out an S24 form for an Italian banker – Carlo Prodi – who she was dating for a while._

_Outcome: This was referred to Tom Quinn. His note is reproduced below._

Alone in the corridor, Tom sighed and closed his eyes. Poor Zoe. She’d been stupid, of course, not sending off a form or at least doing a bit of background research into the guy, but who amongst them could really say they’d been completely sensible when it came to relationships. Tom cast his mind back to Ellie and Maisie with a wince.

He certainly didn’t like the fact that he’d had to talk to Zoe about it, and the way they were going to have to use her for the rest of the op, but that was their job, and Zoe had, in a round-about way, signed up for something like this. The service didn’t care if the people they used to fulfil their means suffered as a consequence, despite their meagre offerings of counselling and in-house therapists, and on this occasion, it was Zoe’s turn to be miserable. 

Cracking his neck, Tom returned to his desk and typed out a quick reply to Section X. He wasn’t going to prolong her suffering – he’d made Colin erase the tapes, and would wrap up the issue here and now. It wouldn’t be fair to drag it on, and he glanced through the boardroom window to see Zoe still sat there in silence with a sigh.

So continued the game.

_Note from Tom Quinn: This has been dealt with in-house. Carlo Prodi was married. He is no longer seeing Zoe. A disciplinary warning has been issued._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of Zoe's reports had already been seen on screen, so hopefully this wasn't TOO familiar!
> 
> A S24 form is one an officer has to fill in to screen potential partners, such as the one Tom had to submit about Ellie.
> 
> Still to come: Ruth, Harry, Zaf and Malcolm. Tom's log was squeaky clean (are we surprised?) so unfortunately no chapter for him.


	4. Ruth Evershed

_Date: 22.08.2004_

_Subject: University Challenge. The BBC quiz show is celebrating its tenth anniversary under Jeremy Paxman. Past winners have been asked to take part in a one-off special show. Ruth has been invited._

_Outcome: See Harry Pearce’s note below._

It had been no surprise to anybody that Ruth had made the Corpus Christi UC team and subsequently won, herself providing the winning answer.

_(Paxman: What everyday concept did Iris Murdoch describe as "... the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real"?_

_Corpus Christi, Evershed!_

_Ruth: Love. In his essay ‘The Sublime and The Good’)_

It was one of the things Ruth was most proud of.

Harry, after he had found this out, found himself a copy of the recording and spent an enjoyable Friday evening with a bottle of wine watching a years-younger Ruth speed through questions about art, science and history with ease. Even Harry had to admit defeat at some of them.

As much as Ruth appearing on a special of the show made him laugh, in reality it simply couldn’t happen. They couldn’t risk anybody recognising her, or the unavoidable ‘what are you up to now?’ questions.

She took it well. ‘Ah, I think I’m a bit rusty anyway. Would be embarrassing, me on television. I’d prefer to just watch it, I think.’

‘Take this as an apology.’ Harry extended a small, neatly wrapped box which Ruth opened with a smile. It was a University Challenge game, a pack of cards with questions you could play in the comfort of your own home.

‘You didn’t have to get me this, Harry’ grinned Ruth.

‘You can have it on one condition – I get to play’.

Section D spent a very enjoyable evening in the pub, that day, playing University Challenge and getting increasingly drunk. Even intoxicated, Ruth Evershed thrashed them all.

_Note from Harry Pearce: I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no. We can’t risk someone recognising Ruth on television. And there are bound to be awkward questions and speculation as to what she is doing now._

_* * *_

_Date: 12.10.2004_

_Subject: CND membership. It has come to our attention that Ruth is still a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. An annual subscription leaves her bank account._

_Outcome: See Tom Quinn’s note below._

Ruth probably wouldn’t have considered herself a _political_ person – she had an interest in current affairs, of course, and certainly had her party preferences. She did, though, find politicians as a whole unsufferable, and would rather altogether avoid discussions of minute political nuance for fear of sending herself to sleep.

On some issues, however, Ruth was more interested – like everybody, as a student she had been rather more active in the world of politics and activism, with the nuclear debate particularly catching her eye. Even now she held the same principles. She couldn’t understand the desire for nuclear weapons, with the thought of the destruction caused by them making her feel slightly ill. Her childhood had been marked by the shadow of the Cold War, and like an awful lot of people her age would like to, at all costs, avoid a future like the one she’d watched in ‘Threads’ which had scared her so badly she had barely been able to sleep.

Truth be told, she’d hardly remembered that she still had the subscription set up, but was still slightly miffed when Tom told her to cancel it. She’d find some other way of supporting the cause, somehow.

_Note from Tom Quinn: I have asked Ruth to rescind her membership._

_* * *_

_Date: 7.09.2005_

_Subject: Library books. Ruth’s pattern of library book requests has flagged up on out monitors as suspicious._

_Outcome: Leave. Operational research purposes only._

Harry had been surprised when the message came through from Section X with the subject of Ruth – this was only her third one in the entire time she’d been on the grid. Not because she didn’t mind tweaking with the rules, but because usually she didn’t get caught. What a very Ruth thing to get flagged for, Harry thought, peering through his office window just in time to see her walk through the pods, her bag handle snap, and books spill all over the floor.

He got up quickly, glad of the excuse to go over and talk to her. The email could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Ruth - her notes were some of my favourite!
> 
> University Challenge is a long running BBC game show where teams from universities up and down the country compete against each other answering extremely difficult questions. If you want an idea of what its like here's an episode featuring Ruth's alma mater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq2Vt30yx54
> 
> The CND is an organisation set up in the 1950s which campaigns for the removal of nuclear arms. 'Threads' is a 1980s movie about what would happen if a nuclear bomb hit the UK and although the effects are a bit outdated it is still very unnerving! The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgT4Y30DkaA


	5. Zafar Younis

_Date: 22.06.2005_

_Subject: Zakat. Zaf is continuing the Muslim practise of Zakat which involves giving a proportion of his wages to charity. We investigated the charities – they include Guide Dogs for the Blind and the NSPCC_

_Outcome: Leave, but continue to monitor._

It was possibly the stupidest thing one of his officers had ever been flagged for – what on Earth, Harry thought, was wrong with a man giving money to charity? God forbid the Guide Dogs get a donation, what would be next? Surely not _Cats Protection_?

Harry wasn’t an idiot; he understood the implication in the message. _Officer from a Muslim background is carrying out a Muslim practise._ The service had thoroughly vetted Zaf, as they did every officer – he wasn’t some radical extremist. Besides, what was the difference between Zaf giving to charity as part of Zakat, and a Christian officer putting money in the pot at Church?

It was ridiculous, yet another example of the service jumping to the worst possible conclusions. Zaf was new and Harry was still warming to him, but as much as he wasn’t a fan of the flashy car and the ‘cool’ vocabulary adopted by the younger officer, there was nothing wrong with him donating to charity. Besides, on a junior officer’s wages, they wouldn’t be getting an awful lot.

_* * *_

_Date: 7.08.2005_

_Subject: S24 dating forms. Zaf has given us ten S24 forms to check up on within the space of a fortnight. Our resources and manpower are tight – there is no way we can check up on this many women._

_Outcome: Referred to Harry. See note below._

Back at MI6, Zaf had been reprimanded one too many times for not filling out an appropriate form for his relationships. So, MI5 could be a fresh start, he thought. And it was – he took it to the extreme. A form for _everybody_. Nobody was going to accuse Zafar Younis of being uncomprehensive.

It wasn’t his fault the relationships never lasted long enough to make the forms worthwhile. It wasn’t his style. He preferred the chase, the breathless flirty fun of picking somebody up a bar, or dropping hints to the girls on Thames House front desk. After the first night he always found himself _bored_ , and by the next there would be somebody else at another bar, or on the tube. It was a distraction, from the shit going on at work. He could get lost in a pretty girl’s smile.

He wanted it to work out, he always did. In some ways he was almost what you’d call a hopeless romantic, half falling in love with everybody he met. The forms _were_ sincere, if over the top, and the one-night stands and stolen kisses never fully eased the ache in his stomach he got when he looked at people like Adam and Fiona. He didn’t understand how they did it. Anytime he got close enough with somebody to tell them what he did, they fled. Even if they understood, an undercover op or long nights on the grid meant the relationship eventually broke down anyway. Zaf’s job didn’t seem to suit anything long term. It was safer to leave them in the dark after a night, or two. Safer to seem like he cared about nothing but what was happening in the moment. And he _did_ enjoy it, as much as his mother would reprimand him for it. She wanted him to get married, have children like his sister and brother.

But for now, thought Zaf, he might as well enjoy himself.

_Note from Harry: Don’t worry about following up any of his S24s for the time-being. I’m afraid none of these is likely to last long. If somebody becomes serious, I will ask him to fill out a form properly._

_* * *_

_Date: 12.02.2006._

_Subject: Valentine cards. Zaf has been using the office franking machine to send out a number of Valentine cards. Government couriers have also been used instead of florists._

_Outcome: Reprimand issued._

Zaf looked rather sheepish at having been caught. Harry was pleased he now had an answer to Malcolm’s constant request for an inquiry into where all of the ink cartridges for the machine were going.

‘Well, that’s all it was, Zafar. As long as you don’t do it again, I think we’ll leave it there. Understood?’

Zaf nodded, and broke into a grin. ‘Are you sure you don’t want one sending, Harry? Not got a certain special somebody? I’ve become rather a dab hand – ‘

‘Zafar Younis, I said we can leave it there.’

Zaf had a characteristic twinkle in his eye. ‘Anytime you like, Harry, you know where I am. Although if I’m on the right tracks, I’m not sure you need to send a card out of the office, if you catch my drift.’

‘Out. Now.’

_* * *_

_Date: 19.04.2006_

_Subject: Pool Cars. Zaf has been signing out pool cars on spurious business reasons while using them to pick up his dates._

_Outcome: Zaf has been issued with a final warning regarding his behaviour in this area._

His beautiful car. His pride and joy, his sleek, perfect, baby. Now completely wrecked because some _bloody_ Ford Fiat couldn’t see where they were going.

He had a date that evening, for God’s sake. He was meant to be taking her for dinner. He could hardly rock up in a cab.

It was only when he overheard Adam asking Harry for permission to use a pool car as part of an operation that he got the idea. They were surprisingly lax with the security about the whole thing. Zaf made up some stupid reason about meeting an ambassador out of the city and they handed over the keys straight away, no question asked.

It turned into a bit of a habit – why bother paying for a brand new car when he could get one for free from work, usually one a lot nicer than he would currently be able to afford, impress his date for the night, then return it the next day, easy as pie. He even used the system to pick up his sister from the airport once, and she was certainly pleasantly surprised that he’d had the self-control to save up for such an impressive vehicle.

It was awful when he was caught, not just because the reprimand came in front of the whole office, but because he was banned from using the pool system for three months. Oh well. Back to the tube.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Zaf, and his report made me laugh.
> 
> The one about Zakat was a bit strange - I tried to explain what I can only assume is the reason it would have been flagged up. I am not from a Muslim background so I apologise if any information I've included is not accurate.
> 
> Harry and Malcolm left to go. I'm saving Harry for the end, as he has quite a meaty section!


	6. Malcolm Wynn-Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for a character having a slightly disordered relationship with food.

_Date: 05.11.1997_

_Subject: Office Canteen. Malcolm used the office canteen for his evening meal on all 31 nights of last month. This was referred to Harry Pearce._

_Outcome: Harry confirmed that Malcolm was working hard on an extra project and has not been able to return home to eat._

Malcolm had never been much of a cook – as a child his mother was a typical housewife and had provided enough food for her only son to feed a small army, and at university he had always preferred a meal in the library café with a book than attempting to make something for himself. The habit had continued at Thames House. Why bother going to the trouble of cooking when there was a fully functioning canteen available? That was his logic anyway.

In reality, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he didn’t much like being at home. He liked his solitude, yes, and enjoyed getting into bed with a book and a tea by himself at the end of the day, but the hours of quiet from when he returned from work to when he went back in the morning were sometimes altogether too much. He called his mother, but she always went to bed early, and he didn’t really have anybody else he would consider himself close enough to that he could message or call. So, Malcolm ate at work, surrounded by the pleasant background noise of late-night Grid chatter, and where there was always something to do.

* * *

_Date: 19.04.2005_

_Subject: Office canteen. Malcolm continues to take more than 90 per cent of his evening meals in the office canteen. This is a far higher proportion than any other officer._

_Outcome: See enclosed note from Harry Pearce._

The one and only time Harry had been to Malcolm’s house, Malcolm had attempted to make him a cup of tea and it had resulted in three smashed mugs and the technical operative being admitted to A&E with first degree burns. He was certainly the best tech-man the Grid had ever seen, but on the domestic front was not winning any prizes anytime soon, and Harry wasn’t particularly surprised by the fact Malcolm took most of his meals at work. He himself was guilty of hundreds of late nights on the Grid and keeping himself going with the food (if you could really call it that) on offer at Thames House, and Malcolm worked so much overtime he was bound to need to use the canteen.

Harry, frankly, didn’t give a monkeys about where his officers ate, and he was glad Malcolm was actually feeding himself – he often worried about whether the man knew how to look after himself, and he was relieved that he was eating after the incident a few years ago when Malcolm had fainted mid-operation after forgetting to eat or drink anything for over 48 hours. He had a tendency to become absorbed in his work, especially if it was a particularly hard code he needed to crack, or a fiddly security system, so Harry was glad he was managing to pull himself away from his screens to get some food. On a couple of occasions, he’d noticed Malcolm and Collin eating together in the evenings, which made a nice change from the more senior officer’s usual solitude.

_Note from Harry Pearce: Malcolm lives alone and is barely capable of making a up of coffee for himself. His kitchen, as far as I’m aware, is entirely devoid of substance. Our canteen is there for a reason. Please don’t pass any more notes of this sort my way._

* * *

_Date: 10.06.2006_

_Subject: Mensa. Malcolm entered an online Mensa competition during work hours._

_Outcome: See enclosed note from Harry Pearce._

It was a puzzle challenge – the quicker you could crack the various ciphers and codes, the quicker you progressed onto the next question. The fastest person to complete them all won £50,000, and Malcolm was currently in second place, behind somebody with an IP address registered in Norway.

The entire team was crowded around the computer – they should have all been writing up their reports about the Djakarta affair, but they all lay abandoned, instead everybody focused on Malcolm’s screen. Zaf let out a low whistle as the last puzzle popped up.

‘Got no idea on this one, mate’.

‘Zaf, I don’t think you’ve had any idea since the first one’ replied Adam, himself completely lost by the snaking lines of letters and numbers filling the screen as Malcolm tapped away at the speed on light.

‘Come on, Malcolm, you’re catching him’ grinned Ruth, stuffing her hands into her pockets to restrain from biting her nails clean off. Malcolm was silent, staring at the screen, which suddenly turned black.

‘What happened?’

‘Wait for it…’ murmured Malcolm, the first thing he’d said for the last half an hour. They paused, holding a collective breath.

 _‘Congratulations – Malcolm Wynn-Jones, London!’_ appeared a message in gold, accompanied by a graphic of a floating balloon, and the team erupted in cheers.

‘Well done, mate’ smiled Adam, clapping Malcolm on the back, whilst Zaf chimed in with a suggestion that Malcolm should be the one to buy drinks that evening.

Malcolm let out a quiet smile, not looking away from his screen, as the leader board loaded up. As everybody dispersed back to their desks, he clicked through to a page of the all-time greatest participants of the competition, and through to the ‘teams’ section. There, at the top, were two familiar names.

_‘Malcolm Wynn-Jones and Colin Wells, London, UK’_

_Note from Harry Pearce: Malcolm is to be congratulated for winning the competition._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Malcolm so very much.
> 
> Just Harry left to go!


End file.
